World News - Behind Talk Of A New Draft: Equity Rangel Backs Conscription, But He Is Finding Few Takers On Capitol Hill

The burden of war is never equitable. Thousands of American troops have been killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many thousands more will bring home at least some of that burden. But most Americans experience no direct or even indirect cost of a war soon to last longer than World War II. Would reinstituting the military draft even things out, spreading the responsibility while influencing politicians to think twice before sending men and women into harm's way? Rep. Charles Rangel (D) of New York thinks so. Challenging Iran and North Korea as well as increasing the US force level in Iraq to try to stem the heightened violence there can't be done without a draft, says Mr. Rangel, a Korean War combat vet. He has dusted off his proposal to bring back conscription, which was suspended in 1973. ... http://www.cbsnews.com

Most Western and developing nations in the U.N. nuclear watchdog tentatively agreed on Wednesday to shelve Iran's request for aid to a nuclear project over fears it could yield bomb-grade plutonium, diplomats said. But the deal left open the possibility of revisiting Iran's case later, bowing to developing nations' concern not to set a precedent for rejecting aid to them for peaceful atomic energy projects, widening a gap between "nuclear haves and have-nots."Days of controversy over Iran's bid for help with its Arak heavy-water reactor broke a long tradition in the International Atomic Energy Agency of routinely approving member state requests for technical assistance. A draft chairman's summary of an IAEA board technical aid committee hearing on Monday and Tuesday said Iran's case would be forwarded to a full conference of the 35-nation board convening on Thursday without recommending how it should rule....http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061122/ts_nm/nuclear_iran_iaea_dc

Police arrested some 90 suspected mobsters early Wednesday, including the father of a man who allegedly killed members of the Bonanno crime family in New York, dealing what they described as a major blow to organized crime.More than 700 police officers in Montreal conducted a series of early morning raids to round up the suspects, and more than 1,300 charges were expected to be brought, including attempted murder, drug dealing, gangsterism, extortion, bookmaking and possession of restricted weapons."We believe we've pierced Italian organized crime," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Luc Bessette said, adding that the project began two years ago.The RCMP, Montreal police and Quebec provincial police took part in the raids....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,231362,00.html

Civil war - the words on all our lips yesterday. Pierre Gemayel's murder - in broad daylight, in a Christian suburb of Beirut, his car blocked mafia-style by another vehicle while his killer fired through the driver's window into the head of Lebanon's minister of industry - was a message for all of us who live in this tragic land. For days, we had been debating whether it was time for another political murder to ratchet up the sectarian tensions now that the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora was about to fall. For days now, the political language of Lebanon had been incendiary, the threats and bullying of the political leaders ever more fearsome. Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the Shia Hizbollah leader, had been calling Siniora's cabinet illegitimate. "The government of Feltman," he was calling it - Jeffrey Feltman is the US ambassador to Lebanon - while the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt was claiming Iran was trying to take over. ...http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2004230.ece

Past surveys have hinted at this result, but a new poll in Iraq makes it more stark than ever: the Iraqi people want the U.S. to exit their country. And most Iraqis now approve of attacks on U.S. forces, even though 94% express disapproval of al-Qaeda. At one time, this was primarily a call by the Sunni minority, but now the Shiites have also come around to this view. The survey by much-respected World Public Opinion (WPO), taken in Sept, found that 74% of Shiites and 91% of Sunnis in Iraq want us to leave within a year. The number of Shiites making this call in Baghdad, where the U.S. may send more troops to bring order, is even higher (80%). In contrast, earlier this year, 57% of this same group backed an "open-ended" U.S. stay. By a wide margin, both groups believe U.S. forces are provoking more violence than they're preventing -- and that day-to-day security would improve if we left. Support for attacks on U.S. forces now commands majority support among both Shiites and Sunnis...http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003410658

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that the United States was "trapped in Iraq," and urged Washington to carefully consider when would be the best time to pull out of the country so the withdrawal does not lead to a further deterioration of security."The United States in a way is trapped in Iraq," Annan said. "It cannot stay and it cannot leave. There are those who maintain that its presence is a problem and there are those who say that if it leaves precipitously, the situation will get worse."Annan said the departure of U.S. troops from Iraq "should not lead to a further deterioration of the situation." The goal should be to leave when Iraqi authorities can ensure a "reasonable, secure environment," he said....http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-11-21-annan-iraq_x.htm